Thursday, May 30, 2013

Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton (This Is Stones Throw Records) is a feature-length documentary about avant-garde Los Angeles-based record label Stones Throw Records. Under the direction of founder DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw has consistently released critically acclaimed, left-of-center albums since its founding in 1996.

Drawing on live concert footage, never-before-seen archival material, inner-circle home video and photographs and in-depth interviews with the folks who put Stones Throw on the map, Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton will delve deeper into the label's enigmatic artists, history, culture and global following. The world premiere is set for June 21 and 22 at the Los Angeles Film Festival with a launch party set for The Exchange (618 S. Spring St, Los Angeles) on June 20 (see flyer below). Watch for a brief cameo by a Canadian television chat show host in the trailer:

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Toronto blues bashers deluxe catl., – now stripped down to the gruesome twosome of Jamie Fleming and Sarah Kirkpatrick – have made it back from their rip-roarin' run through the red States with all their limbs and apparently most of their teeth.

They've shot some footage along the way which you'll see in their new Gotta Thing For You video set for release on June 11, just days after their "welcome home" gig at Saving Gigi (859 Bloor West) on June 8th. Some NXNE showcase gigs have also been lined up according to this press release direct from from catl. hq...

"catl. hit the road this Spring, taking their music to the Southern United States, back to where it all began. The tour proved to be a fruitful mistress for the band, full of good times and enthusiastic responses from local audiences. Man, did we meet some memorable folks! Now the band is eager to descend once again on its beloved hometown of Toronto with a handful of gigs and a new video to boot! The first glimpse will be an intimate showcase at local coffee/entertainment enclave Saving Gigi on Saturday June 8th. The severely limited capacity of the venue is guaranteed to provide an incredibly intense rock party for all! Heck yeah! Expect exciting re-workings of your fav catl. tunes and some brand new jams!

In honour of their triumphant return, and just in time for NXNE, catl. will be releasing a brand new video for ‘Gotta Thing For You’. This video will chronicle their adventures through the Deep South which found the duo playing all sorts of venues from a small juke joint in Mississippi, to running through a set at legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis. EXPECTED RELEASE DATE: June 11th - Watch For It!

catl. will be performing twice for NXNE this year – June 15th at the Exclaim! Backyard Party during the day, followed by a showcase gig at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern that evening. Come down and experience a brand spank’n new catl. All the energy. All the drinking. More friggin’ dancing!
If you didn’t catch wind of it before… After a winter-long hiatus, catl. are re-emerging. Real-life couple Jamie Fleming (catl) and Sarah Kirkpatrick have decided to continue their musical journey as a duo with Kirkpatrick playing drums – and the blisters to prove it! The result is a sexy, raw, primordial rock and roll experience. The duo has spent the winter writing a new record that they intend to record in the fall of 2013. Good to be back!"

The early 70s was a good time to be a country-rock band. Hippie culture had been more fully absorbed into America's collective consciousness than it was in the 60s, and at the same time, the backlash against the trippy, psychedelic excesses of the earlier era had begun in earnest, with the ascent of groups like the Band and Poco.

Riley Watkins, Jim Snead and Gary Stewart at Bradley’s Barn.

For some reason, though, top-shelf country-rockers Riley never made any commercial headway. Their 1970 album, Grandma's Roadhouse, was the rarest of rarities until its reissue 40 years after the fact; the original LP was released in a limited edition of only 500. Riley, named for frontman Riley Watkins, was essentially a trio, but singer/guitarist/pianist Gary Stewart was an unofficial fourth member. Stewart, who would become a country star in his own right later in the decade, was writing songs in Nashville and working at Owen Bradley's legendary studio Bradley's Barn when he invited Riley to do some recording. Stewart became a crucial part of the sessions, singing (mostly harmony), playing guitar and piano, and contributing four songs with his Nashville writing partner Bill Eldridge (who added some guitar to the tracks as well).

The resulting Grandma's Roadhouse is a raw-sounding, rough-and-ready affair with no production frills whatsoever. Even the relatively bare-bones contemporaneous work of the band's aforementioned peers sounds slick in comparison to the tough, gritty tones achieved here. Watkins' gritty, somewhat John Fogerty-ish voice is the perfect vehicle for his and Stewart's greasy, mud-soaked tunes, which combine country twang, rock & roll energy, and some Southern soul influences. There's a loose, freewheeling vibe to the record, but the tunes are all tightly constructed, and the arrangements are strictly low-fat. The closest thing to hippie-era excess is the Allman Brothers Band-esque Watkins/Stewart guitar duel on closing track "Gotta Get Away." Even if it had received wider distribution at the time, Grandma's Roadhouse probably would have been too rough-edged for the mainstream, but it stands as a solid example of what was going on in the early- 70s roots rock underground. Thanks to the fine folks at Delmore Recordings for reissuing it.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Spot the ragga legends in the clip for "UK Allstars" and check out the dope Congo Natty mix below.

For your listening pleasure, Rinse FM DJ Uncle Dugs has assembled a massive mix documenting the evolutionary arc of the Rebel MC's career, from the early Double Trouble days right up to the last few years of Congo Natty. Seventy eight minutes charting the development of UK Jungle, the mix works as a perfect taster for the next Congo Natty opus, Jungle Revolution released by Big Dada
on July 1.
Download a free MP3 version by clicking right here

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The third installment in Numero’s series of otherworldly gospel,
robed funk, and spiritual soul, Apocryphal Hymns is a slim new gospel
songbook, penned powerfully by the genre’s lesser-known disciples. Here,
heavenly harmonies, psychedelic guitars, damaged sacred steel, a
bleeding french horn, off-kilter choirs, and consumer-side electronic
percussion decorate the Word, with performance modes that stray far from
the flock, but hew always to the message. In homage to the the stock
jacket record industry of the 1970s, you can select one of four alternate
covers depicted above: Woodland Twilight, Seashore Morning, Mountain Waterfall, and
Sunbeam Canyon. Numero's brilliant throwback TV spot for the Apocryphal Hymns collection follows the track listing...